Trolley Junction restaurant to close in Nevada City

Photo for The Union by John Hart
Trolley Junction Restaurant closing its doors on February 28, 2013, Railroad Avenue, Nevada City at the Northern Queen Hotel. Left to right are Andrea Lanser-General Manager, Maria Keyser-Chef, Robyn Adams owner, and Kris Murphy Manager.

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One of Nevada City’s revered dining establishments, the Trolley Junction Restaurant, will shutter its doors at the end of February, its owner said Tuesday.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to make for the family,” said Robyn Adams, owner of both the restaurant and the Northern Queen Inn hotel where it is housed.

For 25 years, the Trolley Junction has offered hotel guests, seniors who live on the premises and visitors scenic dining and a forested Sierra Nevada foothill view of a natural waterfall from the restaurant’s windows.

“My dad and my brother built all the buildings on the property,” Adams said of Roy E. Ramey and Roy J. Ramey, respectively.

The hotel grounds are located on the 32-acre property that includes hotel rooms, cabins, a gift shop and a Chinese cemetery. Since 2008, the hotel has housed senior living quarters that were converted from some of hotel’s rooms.

Adams cited a fledgling economy and anticipated increased costs of government regulation, taxes and health care as reasons behind the closing, she said.

“We are going to be concentrating on our senior living, which is doing very well,” Adams said. “Our senior living has blossomed into a beautiful thing.”

Until its closing date, Trolley Junction remains open daily and offers a traditional breakfast menu, served until 2 p.m. and a lunch menu that includes gourmet salads, fish and chips, half-pound Angus beef burgers and sandwiches. Dinner is served Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, featuring prime rib of beef and a variety of chicken, seafood and pasta dishes.

“We’ve had wonderful staff that have worked here for years. It is kind of like losing family,” Adams said. “It’s been an emotional few days down here. But it’s necessary for us to do what we are doing.”

The restaurant’s kitchen will continue to function to feed the facility’s senior residents, but the dining space could be leased by a third party, Adams said, noting several interested parties have already approached her.

One group affected by the move will be the 90 members of the 49er Breakfast Rotary Club — the largest among five Rotary clubs in western Nevada County — which has held its weekly Wednesday morning breakfast meeting at the Trolley Junction for years.

The restaurant’s last day of operation will be Feb. 28; Adams encouraged anyone with gift cards to cash them in before then.